Detour behaviour depends on the visual perspective during learning and navigating in virtual maze

'There are different strategies to make a detour around an obstacle or a barricade. An experiment was carried out to test whether detour behaviour follows a simple general strategy like the tendency to use right angled paths. Alternatively, detour behaviour can depend on the perspective during knowledge acquisition. If the latter is true participants are expected to choose different detours depending on the visual condition. After learning a route in a virtual environment, participants performed different tasks: they had to find a new way around a barricade, point from the barricade to the end of the path and draw a map from the environment. The perspective was varied in three conditions: participants moved either in a field perspective with a viewpoint of a person that is within the scene or with a birds eye (i.e. an observer perspective). In the third condition, participants had to mentally transform their viewpoint during the learning phase from a field into an observer perspective. The results show that the visual conditions during the acquisition of spatial knowledge determine navigation behaviour. Strategies for making a detour differ between perspectives. In the field perspective condition, subjects prefer right angles at intersections to go back to the former route whereas subjects in the observer condition use oblique angled paths more frequently to return to the learnt route.' (author's abstract)Es gibt immer verschiedene Wege und Strategien, mit Hindernissen und Barrieren umzugehen bzw. sie zu umgehen. Die Studie weist in einem experimentellen Design (Versuchspersonen absolvierten verschiedene Durchlaeufe durch ein Labyrinth) nach, dass erfolgreiches 'Umgehungsverhalten' (detour behaviour) entscheidend von Lernprozessen und der Faehigkeit, sich das zu loesende Problem zu visualisieren, abhaengig ist. Verschiedene funktionale aequivalente Strategien des Problemloesungsverhaltens resultieren dabei aus differentiellen, individualtheoretisch zu erklaerenden Perspektiven der Versuchspersonen. (pre)German title: Umgehungsverhalten ist abhaengig von der visuellen Perspektive waehrend des Lernens und der Navigation durch ein virtuelles LabyrinthAvailable from UuStB Koeln(38)-990106307 / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman